GRHOF member Charlie Padgett passed away on Friday, Aug. 16 at the age of 80. Photo courtesy GRHOF Archives

By Brandon ReedPosted in Feature Stories 8/18/13

Charlie Padgett, racing champion and a member of the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame, passed away on Friday, Aug. 16.

Padgett, of Jasper, GA was one of five racing brothers. He started his racing career in Dalton, GA, in the early 1950s, and would compete across North Georgia over the next few years. In 1956, he won the Southern Racing Enterprises Modified championship while racing at Toccoa Speedway in Toccoa, GA, the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, Banks County Speedway near Baldwin, GA, Gainesville Speedway in Gainesville, GA, as well as at tracks in Canton, Georgia and Dallas Georgia.

When you start out at 6 AM to a new place, you always hope that it is worth it. After about four hours in the road, I found Gregory Park in Richmond Hill, near Savannah, GA. Not having been to Gregory Park before, I did not know where to go. At first, I went to an open-air pavilion but saw a bunch of kids and knew I was in the wrong place. But wait! There are two street rods headed to a small closed building. It was 87 degrees at 10 and I knew the worst was yet to come.

Former drivers and fans gathered on Aug. 11 for the fifth annual LakewoodSpeedway reunion at the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame. Photo by Mike Terrell

By Brandon ReedPosted in Feature Stories 8/24/12

For the fifth straight year, former competitors and fans of the famed Lakewood Speedway, which was located in Atlanta, GA, gathered on Aug. 11 at the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in Dawsonville, GA to remember the track that was known as “The Indianapolis of the South.” Among those in attendance were Georgia Racing Hall of Fame members Charlie Mincey, Rex White, Roz Howard, Charlie Bagwell, Bruce Brantley, Luther Carter, Jack Jackson, along with a host of other former drivers, mechanics, and racing enthusiasts.

When the news came that Charles Leroy “Buck” Simmons, one of the greatest short track drivers who ever lived, had died at the relatively young age of 66, my mind wandered back to a Friday night some years back, to a race at a track called Highway 106 Speedway in the north Georgia town of Carnesville.

I was there to do a story on Buck, whom I’d known for years. He was closing in on 1,000 career feature wins.

Lloyd Seay won the first Stock Car race held at Atlanta’s Lakewood Speedway in 1938. Photo courtesy Eddie Samples

By Cody Dinsmore-Guest ContributorPosted in Columns 8/10/12

In 1875, while the state of Georgia was still in the “reconstruction” phase after Sherman practically burned down the majority of the state just 11 years before, a place called Lakewood was built. Its purpose was to provide water from the man-made lake to most of the Atlanta area. It wasn’t until around 1915 that things got interesting. In 1914, the fairground buildings were built for the Southeastern Fair that took place every fall. In 1916, automobiles started to round the one-mile Lakewood Speedway facility. 15 years after the first American car race in which Henry Ford won, large, Indy-type race cars raced at Lakewood for the first time. Before this, Horse-Racing was popular in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s, but was never taken to the next level.

The historic Lakewood Speedway will be remembered on August 11 during the fifth annual Lakewood Speedway Reunion at the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in Dawsonville, GA. Photo courtesy GRHOF

By Brandon ReedPosted in Feature Stories 8/04/12

As fans and organizers prepare for the fifth annual Lakewood Speedway Reunion at the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame in Dawsonville, GA on Aug. 11, it’s with two racing heroes in mind that the event will be held.

NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Cotton Owens, who passed away back on June 7, and Georgia Racing Hall of Famer Jimmy Mosteller, who passed away on July 4, will be honored at this year’s event.

Driver Harvey Jones, and car owners, builders and mechanics Johnny Cooper and James Cooper with their race car at the Thunderbowl Speedway in Valdosta, GA.

By Mike BellPosted in Feature Stories 7/27/12

Do you remember going through all those small South Georgia towns and seeing some kind of race car at a garage or gas station? This is the story of one of those little towns and three brothers that had a garage just like that. The place? Ray City. The time? Late sixties into the seventies and later. Johnny Cooper is the oldest and grew up fast in that little town. The Cooper brothers are, from oldest to youngest, Johnny (July 22, 1945), James (August 18, 1947) and Tommy (August 27, 1956 – who has always gone by the name Skeeter and prefers it that way. “My uncle gave me that name is what my mother told me”).

Friends and family gathered at the farm of Gordon Brown in Dalton on June 14th for the first North Georgia and Tennessee Racers Reunion. Photo by Mike Terrell

By Mike BellPosted in Feature Stories 7/20/12

All of Charlie Mincey’s, John Layton’s, Donald Tyson’s and Gordon Brown’s hard work gave everybody that came to the First Annual North Georgia and Tennessee Racers Reunion the greatest time they could have had at any reunion.

Dawsonville, Georgia native Bernard Long recorded his first win in the July 27, 1941 race at Daytona Beach. He never raced again after the win.

By Brandon ReedPosted in Feature Stories 4/22/12

In the history of drivers from Dawsonville, Georgia to win at Daytona Beach, four men scored wins on the sands of Daytona between 1941 and 1959.

The exploits Gober Sosebee, Roy Hall, and Lloyd Seay are well documented. Their stories have been told time and time again, and each has a rightful place in the Georgia Racing Hall of Fame. In fact, all three were members of the inaugural class of inductees in 2002.

The Athens Speedway in Athens, GA, seen here from 1966,closed in 1992, but lives on in the memories of those that will gather at the third annual Athens Speedway Reunion this weekend.

By Brandon ReedPosted in Feature Stories 4/14/12

It’s been almost 20 years since the lights went out for the final time at one of the most popular and successful short tracks in Georgia history.

The Athens Speedway, located on old Jimmie Daniel Road in Athens, Georgia, saw its final race in 1992 after over 30 years of action. Today, the track sits abandoned, mostly forgotten by people in Athens.